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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

What happened to "them"?

English: View into Depot Town in Ypsilanti, MI, from the Cross St bridge over the Huron River, looking down Cross Street to the River St intersection and beyond. This was taken in October 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I knew something had happened to them. At first I thought the "them" was made up of
three, then after finding the youngest of the "them" alive and well
as a married adult, I sighed with relief.

By the 1860 census,
part of the family seems to fall off the grid. Daniel is living with his
grandmother, Margaret Barbara Rook, a couple of aunts, and an uncle there in
Ypsilanti. His older sister Prudence is living across the border in Ohio with a
family that seemingly has no connection to her {I've looked. But don't you go look because I'm not done trying to figure it out. I'm stubborn like that.}, but she's about
18 miles from her uncle, her father's brother -- Harmon Vaughan.

No Benjamin. No Susanna. No Alice.

Or so I thought. I did some census voodoo and traced all of the people named Alice
I could find born in Michigan in about March of 1850 with a mother born in New York and a
father born in Canada. {On the 1850 census, they list her age in months.} And I found one who seemed to move around a bit because she was
married to a preacher -- an aptly named man by the name of Almond Parsons -- who must have traveled a circuit of some kind
in lower Michigan where Ypsilanti is located. After skippity-doo-dahing across
southern Michigan, they settle in Kalamazoo, Michigan {which is almost as fun
to say as Ypsilanti, Washtenaw, Michigan where Alice was born}. Finally, she is found in the 1940
census living with her daughter Nellie and family at the age of 90, and Alice Barbara Parsons passes away 4 years later in 1944. I did discover her and the Reverend's other
child as well, but I'll save that story for another day. {I'm evil like that.}

So I found Alice. {Of
course, that begs the question, "Who was this Alice named after?" A relative, a friend, a pet cat? I'll keep my suspicions to myself for now.}

But what happened to
Benjamin Brown & Susanna (Rook) Vaughan -- Prudence's, Daniel's, and
Alice's parents? I consulted The History of Ypsilanti by Harvey C. Colburn at
The Clayton {Amy Coffin's nickname for the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research}, and in it I found the Hawkins family mentioned. This
was an important clue because my fourth great-grandfather's second wife in
Ypsilanti was a Hester A. Hawkins and they live near a Hawkins family in Ypsilanti
in a couple of censuses. {And Ypsilanti is a wee town -- then and now.} I then found a John Vaughan mentioned in the book as a
vestry member and as a sexton for St. Luke's Episcopal Church there in
Ypsilanti which is still open today. {In fact, I started following the church's Facebook
Page because there's something about following your 4th great grandparent's
church on Facebook, especially since I'm Episcopalian too.}

Finding a John Vaughan mentioned as a member of the Episcopalian Church was another
important clue because I had already found Benjamin's baptismal record near Iberville, Quebec in Anglican records in Caldwell's Manor (Foucault) and Christie's Manor (Noyan) naming his
parents as John T. & Prudence (Brown) Vaughan. I knew my John had been an Anglican/Episcopalian. Had he remained in the same denomination after they immigrated to America?

So I emailed St. Luke's and asked where their church records for
the 1800s were archived, and they said they were located at the Bentley
Historical Library at the University of Michigan. So I had a look-see at their
website and found, at the time, all lookups needed to be in person. Then I
checked the catalog on FamilySearch.org, but they hadn't been filmed. So I put it off, and then picked the trail back up when I decided to apply for Daughter's of the American Revolution membership and United Empire Loyalist membership through Daniel's maternal and paternal lines, respectively. At the same time. {There's just something about a Civil War musician's mother's line being a Patriot line and his father's line being a Loyalist line, no?}

I thought perhaps I'd need to hire someone to go through those church records because I couldn't figure out how to convince my family that a family vacation to Michigan was a fabulous idea. They tend to like the Gulf Coast beaches in the summer. Go figure.

But then
I checked FamilySearch.org again -- about two years later -- and found they'd
been filmed. Well, at least the parish records containing baptisms,
confirmations, burials, etc., had been filmed. The vestry minutes have not been filmed. But a girl can't be picky, right? {And all of this is why I don't really think I have too many research brick walls. Many times -- for one reason or another -- I just haven't looked everywhere yet.}

Had my 4th great
grandfather, John T. Vaughan, been on the vestry at St. Luke's? Had he and his
family worshiped there? Had Daniel been baptized there? More importantly, would
I finally have my answers to what happened to my 3rd great grandparents, Benjamin
Brown & Susanna (Rook) Vaughan?

Would my answers be on
that microfilm roll tucked in a little white box?

Would I find out what happened to "them"?

~Caroline

Note: Sources available upon request because if you think we're related, then contact me and we'll figure it out together. My email is up at the top of this blog page sort of on the right side in the Nav Bar.

4 comments:

So John, then Benjamin, then Daniel. Maybe. Including a move from Quebec to Ypsilanti, Michigan. You are using lots of good "hunches" plus thorough research. I hope the microfilm pays off! (Once when I ordered microfilm, I found many generations of family named in church minutes for a 100-year period.)

Suspense! I'm waiting to see what happens in your story.

So many of my ancestors seem to be Episcopalian, too. But so far, no surname matches with yours.

The Bentley is within an hour of here. My daughter lives in Kalamazoo. There is a chance I could help with these records if needed, but timing might not be immediate. Love to hear about these border searches, since I have ancestors who didn't know whether they lived in New York or Vermont. Or perhaps they moved over and back a lot!

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About Me

As a genealogist, a family historian, a writer, and a blog
author, I've been blogging stories about my ancestors since 2009
on Family
Stories. Additionally, I've been having epic results
combining family history, genealogy, technology, research services, tutorials, and videos on my blog 4YourFamilyStory.com.

When I'm not blogging about dead people,
coaching others on how to use technology to find dead people, or researching
other people’s dead people, I can usually be found in an antique store
searching for letters, post cards, tickets, photos, books, etc. once
owned by people who are now dead.